How a child specialist can make sure the voice of your child is heard during the divorce process.

Parents generally worry about the impact of divorce on their children. Serious harm can happen for kids during separation and the aftermath if moms and dads get sidetracked by strong negative emotions and conflicts and lose perspective on what’s important for their youngsters during this difficult time. In a Collaborative Divorce, parents and their lawyers often call up a Neutral Child Specialist to bring the voice of the child into the process, and to help them make child sensitive decisions for their kids. The Child Specialist is a psychologist with specialized knowledge about children and divorce, family relationships, communication and parenting. Parents find that the Child Specialist understands the difficulties of going through separation and divorce, and is also familiar with the collaborative process used by their lawyers. When parents separate, children are forced into numerous changes over which they have no choice—after all, parents get divorced, but kids don’t divorce their parents. Ideally, children maintain strong connections with their mom and dad and are provided with as much support, stability and consistency as possible under the circumstances. When you call up a Child Specialist, his or her job is to listen…to listen first to each parent’s priorities, interests, and...